Triangle
by DawningStar
Summary: One new protoform appears in the Beast Wars...with three widely different personalities. Second chapter uploaded.
1. Triangle, Part One

Triangle 

Triangle   
by Dawn

Lightning flashed brilliantly overhead, giving Rattrap the brief glimpse he needed to pick off the hovering Waspinator. "Hurry up over there!" he called over his shoulder. 

"I'm trying," Rhinox replied in frustration, bent over the control panel of the recently crashed stasis pod. "I don't know what Tarantulas was trying to do, but it's not helping me out any." He gave the pod a kick, hoping to get rid of the persistent error messages. 

The pod's computer bleeped gently. "Suitable life form found," it announced. "Replication complete." 

Rhinox shook his head in bewilderment. "Huh. Must've scanned before we got here," he muttered, giving the pod's cover a shove to get it all the way up. 

Within huddled a hummingbird, somewhat smaller even than Rattrap. Her brown feathers glinted with hints of green when the lightning was bright enough to see by, and the way she sprawled clearly indicated unconsciousness. 

"I've got the protoform," he called to Rattrap, scooping the small bird up in one arm. "Let's get out of here." 

"No argument here," Rattrap replied, backing away as he fired at the damaged spider. Waspinator's pieces decorated a nearby tree. 

Tarantulas continued to fire at the retreating Maximals, but he made no move to follow. If he'd had any luck at all, the protoform would be of no use to them...and he was far more interested in the pod itself. 

* * *

At the Maximal base, Rattrap waited anxiously for the hummingbird to awaken. Rhinox had assured him that she wasn't seriously damaged, but her prolonged unconsciousness was worrisome, especially since they didn't know what Tarantulas had done to the pod. 

The newcomer lay on a diagnostic table in robot mode. She lacked any symbols to show which side she was on, but Rhinox hadn't given Tarantulas the chance to reprogram her into a Predacon--they all hoped. Her predominant color scheme was brown, but an almost metallic green glistened through when the light was at the right angle. Soft, downy brown feathers framed her face and fell far past her shoulders. 

Slowly, her optics came online, revealing their unusual dark blue color. They widened in shock as she caught sight of Rattrap, and pushed herself into a sitting position. "Who and what are you?!" she gasped. 

"Eh, I'm Rattrap. A Maximal," he replied, a little startled at her violent reaction just at seeing him. "What's your name?" 

The newcomer slowly shook her head. "I'm insane. It's the only explanation for...for this." 

"I'd prefer not ta call you that, if you've got a name," Rattrap said. 

Those blue optics were still staring at him. "Call me Dawn. I guess...since I'm here...that's probably the best name." 

"What exactly is it you're finding so hard to accept about being here?" inquired Rattrap. 

"Well--well--" Dawn gestured uselessly. "You're...a robot. You said your name's Rattrap?" 

He nodded. "Hate to break it to you, but you're a robot too," he told her. 

"What?" Dawn looked down at her hands, reached up to feel her feathery hair, and stopped, stunned. "But I can't be! I'm a human!" 

Rattrap silently shook his head. Maybe the hummingbird's first introduction had been right. 

Dawn looked at him. "Rattrap, I want to go home!" She buried her face in her hands, and curled up onto the hard bed. "It's a dream, it has to be," she said quietly. "I'll just..." 

Rattrap waited for her to finish the sentence, but she was unconscious again. He sighed. Something was wrong with this little hummingbird, and he hoped Rhinox could figure out what it was. She really seemed pretty nice, and she was one of the few bots he'd met who was shorter than he was. 

* * *

She came awake in a sterile room, and the first thought through her mind was, _Have I been captured?_

She tried to concentrate on that. Captured by who? Had she been fighting? But the details danced teasingly away from her. 

_Predacons._ They were the enemy, she was almost positive. And she was a...a Maximal. Her name...Zephyr. That much she was sure of. 

She activated her silver optics, and looked around, trying to get a better feel of her surroundings. Only one other person was in the room, a metallic red bot whose beast mode seemed to be some sort of rodent. 

Her weapons were active, she sensed, and the next instant she had leaped off the table and had her short-range laser at the other's head. "Who are you and where am I?" she asked. 

"Hold it a second!" the unfamiliar bot said. "Like I said, I'm Rattrap, a Maximal, and there's no call to go pointing weapons at me, Dawn!" 

She hesitated. He hadn't made any hostile moves...she retracted the wrist laser, and retreated. "Three things you should know. I've never seen you before in my life, I don't know anybody called Dawn, and my name is Zephyr." 

Rattrap turned to her, a puzzled expression on his face. "But you just said--" he began, and probably he finished the sentence, but Zephyr didn't hear the rest. Darkness came up in a wave, and she fell into it...again. 

Rattrap looked in worry at the hummingbird. Now she'd apparently had a name change, and claimed not to remember anything of their previous conversation. And he'd noticed something else--her optics had changed color, from the strange blue to a slightly more common silver. 

He activated his comlink. "Rattrap to Rhinox. You gone over that hummingbird's schematics yet? 'Cause she's actin' even weirder now." 

* * *

"It's very odd. There are three distinctly different sets of programming," Rhinox told Optimus. "One shows similarities to human brainwaves, and the other two are Cybertronian. One of those appears to be Maximal. The third hasn't made an appearance yet, as far as we know. Rattrap is keeping an eye on the protoform. She doesn't seem to be much of a danger, but it's possible that this is the result of some attempted reprogramming by Tarantulas, so we'd better be careful." 

"Once you know what's wrong, do you think you'll be able to fix it?" Optimus inquired. 

Rhinox shook his head slightly. "No way to tell yet. But I'll keep you updated." 

"I'd appreciate that. In the meantime, I'll let everyone know what's happened." 

* * *

Rattrap was beginning to drowse off when the hummingbird came awake again. This time there was no warning. The small bot had scarcely begun to move when she yanked out a gun that seemed somewhat more powerful than the laser she'd had previously, and aimed it unwaveringly at Rattrap. 

_Great,_ Rattrap thought, _she's changed again._ He looked at her optics. They were neither blue nor silver now, but an ominous red. "Who're you?" 

"Quiet, Maximal," the little bot said threateningly. "Show me the way out of here, or I'll just get rid of you now." 

That more or less answered the question of which side she was on now. "Don't get upset," Rattrap said, raising his hands placatingly. "I just wanted ta know yer name." 

"Duskwind," she said warily. "Which way? If we run into any other Maximals, you're slagged, you understand." 

"Ya gotta go through the bridge ta get outside, and someone's always there," Rattrap replied evasively. 

"Then show me where the nearest outside wall is, and I'll let you go," Duskwind directed. "No tricks, Maximal." She gestured to the closed door with her free hand. "After you." 

Rattrap led the way out of the room, searching for a way to let the others know about his predicament. If this Predacon was like most, he was in trouble as soon as he was no longer of use to her. But Rhinox had gone to tell Optimus about the protoform, Cheetor was off duty in his quarters, and everyone else was out on patrol. He was on his own. 

Still, if this time was like the other two, Duskwind would be unconscious again before long. Then he could take her back to the med room and let Rhinox know about this latest change. 

As they came closer to the outside hull of the ship, however, the hummingbird showed no sign of falling unconscious. Rattrap considered leading her around in circles, but she stopped as soon as they reached the hull. "Thanks ever so much for your cooperation," Duskwind told him. "You might want to get out of the way. Oh. One thing." She reached around and disabled his comlink. 

A little surprised at his good luck, Rattrap backed away from her. The gun still aimed at him, Duskwind pulled out an explosive, and set it on the wall. Rattrap went faster. She must be crazy to set an explosive off without getting away first! 

The detonation was oddly muted when it happened, seconds after Rattrap was out of sight. He risked a quick look around the corner. He'd led her to a part of the hull above the waterfall, but Duskwind transformed to her beast mode and flew away rapidly, apparently undamaged. Rattrap shook his head. The force of the explosive must have been directed at the outside of the ship--something that took quite a bit of expertise. He wouldn't have wanted to stand right next to one like that, even if he'd altered it himself. 

He turned again to run to the bridge. Optimus and Rhinox were probably getting a little worried about the explosion. 

* * *

Duskwind landed just out of sight of the Maximal base. Now that she was away from any immediate danger from the Maximals, she had to think things over. She didn't know where she was, or how she'd gotten there. She knew she was a Predacon and that Maximals were the enemy, but nothing else. 

To make things worse, Duskwind was feeling awfully shaky for some reason. Her self-diagnostics didn't report any damage, but the shakiness wouldn't go away. 

The world around her seemed strangely blurry. There was a soft voice saying something in the back of her mind. Duskwind tried to listen to it, but it was hard for her to concentrate on anything. 

The hummingbird slumped to the stony ground, unconscious. 

* * *

Zephyr opened her eyes, confused. What was going on? She had been inside the Maximal base, and now she was outside on a rocky plain, with nothing in sight. 

_'I suppose it's my fault for not expecting it,'_ a voice mused. Zephyr stiffened and looked behind her, but no one was there. 

_'You can't see me. Or you can. We're more or less the same person,'_ the voice told her. _'I've had a while to figure it out, since I was the first to wake up. No need to reply out loud.'_

_'What's happened?'_ Zephyr thought tentatively, wondering if she was going insane. _'Who are you?'_

An image Zephyr hadn't thought of flashed through her mind, of a young human girl with long brown hair, her features rather like Zephyr's own. _'I'm Dawn, and I wish I knew what happened. What's your name?' _

_'Zephyr,'_ the Maximal replied. _'How did I get out here?' _

_'I'm pretty sure that was the third member of our little group. She ought to be joining us any time now,'_ Dawn said. _'This is going to be a problem.'_

Zephyr managed a mirthless laugh, half aloud and half silently. _'You're a voice in my head and you're telling me it'll be a problem.' _

_'I'm not just a voice. No more than you are, in any case. But it's not that, exactly. It's just that from what I've seen so far, the third one of us is a Predacon.'_ A silent sigh echoed through Zephyr's mind. _'And you're a Maximal. Talk about personality conflict.' _

_'But...you aren't real, right?'_ asked Zephyr, a little afraid. _'You and she, whoever she is, you're just illusions, or something?'_

Dawn laughed, aloud, with Zephyr's mouth. For an instant, Zephyr was banished to the background, unable to do anything. _'Cut that out!'_ she ordered, frightened. 

Dawn retreated again immediately. _'Sorry,'_ she said apologetically. _'I'm not used to this yet. I'll stay out of your way--you have more right to be in control than I do, here--but the other is from here as well, so she'll probably want control. All three of us are real. And we have to come to some sort of understanding, or we'll just be fighting one another for control all the time.'_

_'How's this for an understanding? Take your Predacon and get out of my mind!'_

Zephyr caught an image of the human girl shaking her head. _'I have no control over you or her. As I said, I won't talk if you don't want me to, but I'm afraid it won't be so easy to get the Predacon to do the same. She has as much right to be here as you do. If you change your mind, call me.'_ And the sense of Dawn's presence faded. 

Zephyrfrowned. If Dawn was right, she shouldn't go back to the Maximal base yet--not that she knew where that was. Of course, Dawn couldn't be right. She couldn't even be real. But still… 

The Maximal settled down near a rock, and waited for any other strange voices. 

* * *

Duskwind came awake slowly. She opened her eyes, wondering why she'd fallen unconscious, and started a self-diagnostic. 

"No damage," her internal computer finally reported, and Duskwind started to get up--only to find that she was unable to move. _What's going on?_ she wondered. 

Then she half-heard another mind/voice think, _'So Dawn was right after all.'_ There was an undertone of resignation to the thought. Then the voice continued, _'I'm Zephyr. Who are you?' _

_'Duskwind,'_ the Predacon replied cautiously. _'Who's Dawn?'_

_'The third one of us. She can explain this better than I can.'_ In the back of her mind, Duskwind heard Zephyr call for the other. 

_'Do you believe me now?'_ The soft voice sounded slightly amused, and it was accompanied by the image of a small human girl. Now that she thought of it, Duskwind had had an impression of a short green-brown bot when Zephyr spoke, though not as vivid as Dawn's representation. She wondered absently if she was broadcasting her own image to the other two. 

_'You are, but don't worry.'_ Dawn again. _'It's just like someone's voice--a way we can tell who's talking. Anyway, you and Zephyr don't seem to have very clear ideas who you are.'_

_'Zephyr said you would explain what happened.' _

_'Yes. I'll do the best I can, seeing as I don't know all of what happened. It seems to me that the three of us will have to find some way to share control. If you two start fighting, I'll take control,'_ Dawn warned. _'Don't think I can't do it.' _

Duskwind heard an unhappy agreement from Zephyr, so she said, _'That makes sense.' _

_'All right then. None of us is any more real than the others. I'm a human--or I was,'_ Dawn corrected herself. _'Duskwind is a Predacon. Zephyr is a Maximal.'_

A Maximal! Duskwind might have pulled out a gun except for the fact that she had no target, and still couldn't move besides. _'Then this is all a Maximal trick,'_ she growled. _'What am I, an experiment? Is any of this real?'_

_'I think I can assure you that the Maximals didn't do this. Neither did the Predacons. But whether or not any of this is real...now, there's an interesting point.'_

_'What do you mean?'_ asked Duskwind, and heard it echoed by Zephyr. 

There was a quiet mental sigh. _'Believe it or not, this is all a television show where I come from.'_

It wasn't exactly silence, but thoughts flew too quickly to understand. _'You're crazy,'_ Zephyr finally opined. 

_'Crazier than you two? That'd be hard to manage. But it doesn't matter. The question is, what are we going to do?' _

_'The Maximals would help us figure this out,'_ Zephyr suggested. 

_'Sure, they'd help you and get rid of Dawn and me. No thanks,'_ Duskwind disagreed. 

_'The Predacons probably wouldn't help at all, and if they did, it'd just be to see how this happened, and if they could use it. Not to mention that we have no idea where the Predacon base is,'_ the Maximal pointed out. Somehow all three knew something of the situation, perhaps leaking from Dawn's knowledge, or maybe an update from the stasis pod. 

_'Let's face it--you don't trust the Predacons, and I don't trust the Maximals. We aren't going to agree this way. Dawn, what do you think?'_ Duskwind felt more inclined to trust the supposed human than the Maximal, despite her impossible claims. 

Dawn was silent for a moment, then said, _'First, we need to figure out what we're trying to do here. I assume the two of you want to be separated. I want to go home. So, how are we more likely to accomplish that? Duskwind, you have to admit that most Predacons are hardly known for keeping any promises.'_

_'True,'_ Duskwind agreed reluctantly. _'But how do I know that the Maximals would?'_

_'Well, you don't. But so long as you promise not to harm any of them or damage their base while you're there, I think I would trust them.' _

_'Maybe you would, but you're not a Predacon,'_ Duskwind retorted. 

_'What choice do we have, Duskwind?'_ asked Dawn. _'Do you really want to live like this for the rest of your life, sharing everything with Zephyr and I? I sure don't want to stay here. Not that the company isn't great, but I'm not sure of anything away from my books. I know them. I don't have the slightest idea what to do here.'_

Duskwind let out a mental sigh. _'Okay, you're right. If the Maximals can separate the three of us, they're our best bet. But maybe one of you should take control. It'd be safer.'_

_'Zephyr can do it. I don't have any right to,'_ said Dawn. Duskwind felt the Maximal take over. They stood, and Zephyr flew into the air with the other two little more than shadows in the back of her mind. 

The Maximal base over the waterfall came into view quickly. Nervous but determined, the three made for it. 

* * *

"Um, Bigbot?" called Cheetor. "The scanners're picking up an unfamiliar Maximal energy signature. Looks like that protoform of Rattrap's came back again." 

"Hey!" protested Rattrap. "She ain't my protoform." 

Optimus smiled slightly at the continuing argument, and came over to check the readings. "It's the protoform, all right," he said to Rhinox. "Have you discovered anything else about her yet?" 

The scientist shook his head glumly. "Nope. I don't know how it happened, I don't know why it happened, and I certainly don't know how we can do anything about it." 

"Well, maybe you'll get another chance to figure it out. Rattrap, you and I will go out and meet her. Be careful. Remember that last personality of hers." 

"I'm not gonna forget somethin' like that," muttered Rattrap as he headed for the lift, pulling out his gun. Optimus followed him. 

* * *

Zephyr landed near the base, unsure. _'We don't have a comlink, do we?'_ she silently asked the other two. 

_'We might, but it wouldn't do much good, since we don't know what frequency the Maximals use,'_ Dawn replied. _'Let's just wait. They'll be out in a bit.'_

Sure enough, before two cycles had passed, the lift descended with Rattrap and another bot inside. Both carried weapons, which weren't pointed quite at Zephyr, but made it impossible to miss the implied threat nonetheless. 

Rattrap stepped forward. Zephyr thought she saw a hint of relief--at what? That she'd returned? "Glad you're back, Zephyr," he said. "Er...do you remember how you left?" 

Duskwind quickly supplied that memory with a tinge of embarrassment. Zephyr nodded. "I know how it happened. But it wasn't me who did it." 

"Yes, about that," the other put in, "we would like an explanation. I'm Optimus Primal, Maximal commander." 

"Nice to meet you. I'm Zephyr." She paused for a moment. 'This may be confusing,' she added privately. "There are three of us, actually," Zephyr continued aloud. "I'm a Maximal, and Dawn thinks she's a human--" 

_'Thinks?'_ Dawn flared. _'I'll have you know I remember being a human perfectly well! I'm more sure of that than you are of being a Maximal!'_

_'Sorry!'_ "--and Duskwind's a Predacon," Zephyr finished hurriedly. "We've sort of agreed to a truce. None of us much like the current situation." 

Optimus nodded. "So you came to us, to see if we could help you out. Well, we'll do what we can." 

Zephyr smiled in gratitude. "We all promise not to do anything to your base or any Maximal as long as none of you hurt us." 

"Well, that's...encouraging," Optimus muttered. "Zephyr, I'd appreciate it if you handed your weapons over to us while you're here. To prevent misunderstandings." 

_'I don't like this,'_ Duskwind muttered, but she told Zephyr where her gun and her explosives were located. Zephyr pulled them out in some perplexity. She hadn't even known they were there. 

She placed them on the ground, then flicked open a small access panel on her arm and deactivated her own laser, removing the crystal that focused the energy. Dawn watched in equal bemusement, and Zephyr got the distinct feeling the human hadn't known they had any weapons at all. 

"I think that's everything," she said, surveying the largish pile of explosives and wondering what other surprises would be in store for the three of them. 

Rattrap blinked. "That's more'n I have," he mumbled. 

_'And he'd better not go messing with them, either,'_ Duskwind said darkly. 

_'Don't worry. Rattrap might want to, but he won't, not without permission from someone,'_ Dawn said. _'Not with us, anyway.'_

_'I'm not even going to ask,'_ the Predacon muttered. 

Ignoring the conversation in the back of her mind, Zephyr continued, "I'm awfully sorry about what happened before. So's Duskwind. It was just...all three of us were awfully disoriented when we woke up." 

Optimus smiled. "No harm done. Come on in." 

Zephyr hesitantly returned the smile, and stepped toward the Maximals and into the lift...trying to ignore Duskwind's silent predictions of imminent treachery and death. 

* * *

"So, ya find anythin' yet?" Rattrap asked Rhinox. The little hummingbird was in the CR chamber, while the Axalon's computer scanned the three's systems. A schematic hovered over the golden holotable in the center of the bridge. 

"Not much," the scientist rumbled, his voice betraying frustration. "This should be impossible. But..." 

"But, they're there," Rattrap completed. "Any idea how Tarantulas managed it?" 

"I'm afraid not. He may just have started messing around with the programming chips, though why I don't know. Both a Maximal and a Predacon chip might have resulted in a split personality, but even that doesn't explain how Dawn appeared. The only thing I have been able to find out is that there's no way they could be working for Megatron. All three are entirely sincere, and even Dawn thinks she's telling the truth--no matter how impossible it sounds." 

"And ya don't know how ta separate them." 

"No." 

Rattrap sighed. "They ain't gonna like that." 

"Undoubtedly not," Rhinox agreed dismally. "I'm still working on it. We have the scans, though--you can go ahead and open the chamber." 

Rattrap nodded and reached over to activate the door of the CR chamber. It hissed and slowly opened, giving off puffs of steam. 

The bot within blinked several times in disorientation, her optics slowly clearing to a bright blue. "Rattrap?" Dawn asked. "Anything?" 

"'Fraid not yet. Rhinox's got all the scans he needs for now, though, so he can keep working without you havin' ta be in that thing the whole time." 

"I see." She let out a quiet sigh, then smiled at him. "What shall we do, then? I'd kinda like to see the ship. The others are still unconscious," she added in response to his unvoiced query. "It takes them a little longer to wake up." 

As if Dawn was better adjusted to this situation than the other two--even though they were Cybertronian and thus should fit in better here, and she was human, or thought she was. Intriguing, to say the least. "I could probably show ya 'round a bit--though I don't think Optimus would really approve if I started giving away our secrets," he smiled. 

"No, probably not," Dawn grinned back. "I promise I won't ask about your plans or your defenses or anything. How's that?" 

"That'll do fine." Rattrap led her out of the bridge. 

The little hummingbird was curious about almost everything, asking a good many questions about things that most Cybertronians knew already. She was especially interested in the transwarp systems for some reason, and seemed to have not the slightest idea of even the theory behind them. 

He was in the midst of explaining the transwarp cells when she interrupted him with a touch on the arm, closing her blue eyes briefly. Opening them again, she said, "Zephyr's awake now. She'd like control, if that's all right with you." 

"This is gonna take some gettin' used to," Rattrap muttered. 

Dawn grinned ruefully. "You're telling us." 

Rattrap nodded. Of course it would be strangest for the three suddenly thrown together. "Sure, why not. Er...will you still be able ta hear me, Dawn?" 

"Yeah," she replied. "As long as I'm...um, awake, I'll know what's going on. If that's the right term." She shook her head. "At first we only woke one at a time, but we can all be aware at the same time now. Duskwind might wake up before too long." 

Rattrap wasn't entirely sure he wanted to meet the Predacon portion of the hummingbird again. "I see." 

Bright silver eyes filled with amusement met his. "Quite so." 

Rattrap blinked. The changeover had been so quick he'd hardly even noticed it. "Is it hard," he asked, "sharin' your mind with a Pred?" 

Zephyr shrugged. "I've more or less gotten used to it," she sighed, "seeing as I don't really have a choice. Dawn makes it easier. She's headed off or reconciled half a dozen arguments so far." 

Had her attention wavered for an instant? Evidence of a comment from Dawn, perhaps? "It must've been hard to get Duskwind to come here," he said slowly, trying to understand the strange relationships between the three. 

"It was. But Dawn convinced her." 

Just then, a loud siren echoed through the hallway. Zephyr spun, optics wide, her arm coming up in a useless attempt to activate her disabled laser. "What's happening?" she demanded of Rattrap. 

Equally startled, the Maximal rat cast a glance toward a panel on the wall. Its blinking lights told him all he needed to know. "Predacon attack," he told her grimly. "I have ta get out there. You'd best stay here." 

He began to run to the bridge--only to find the hummingbird still beside him. "I want to help," she said determinedly. 

"You can't! You haven't even got any of your weapons!" 

"There's gotta be something we can do!" Astonishingly, it was the gentle Dawn who had spoken. 

Rattrap shook his head impatiently. He had no time to deal with this when the Predacons were outside, fighting his friends! "Go to the bridge then!" he told her. "Bother someone else about it!" 

She wordlessly followed him there, and stood watching as the lift lowered him out of her sight. The bridge was deserted. 

_'We have to do something,'_ Zephyr said silently. 

_'But he's right. We'd be more a of a liability than an advantage. The only thing we can do is stay here and watch.'_ Dawn directed the Maximal's attention to a monitor across the bridge, showing a view of the battle outside. 

_'What's going on?'_ a third, slightly groggy voice put in. 

_'The Predacons are attacking the base,'_ Dawn told Duskwind. _'At a guess, I'd say they're trying to find out about us. How strong we are, that sort of thing.'_

_'Why aren't we out there? We have to fight them!'_

A flicker of surprise from the other two reached the Predacon. _'Why would you want to fight your own side?'_ Zephyr asked suspiciously. 

_'Because if we don't fight and the Maximals lose, what chance is there of our ever being separated? Besides, we promised not to harm any Maximal or their base, and isn't letting them be hurt the same as doing it ourselves?'_

_'There's an interesting subject for debate,'_ Dawn said, _'but we don't have time for it now. If we're going to help out, we need weapons, and all of yours are gone.'_

All three looked at the monitor. It was obvious the Maximals were outnumbered, and Sentinel's autoguns were being picked off one by one. 

_'If I were a weapon, where would I be,'_ mused Zephyr. _'Dawn, do you have any idea?'_

It was strange, Duskwind thought suddenly. The human was certainly the least experienced with any sort of battle, and unused to this form besides, so she ought to be the one with the least voice in decisions...and yet somehow both Duskwind and Zephyr found themselves constantly turning to her. 

Dawn apparently was thinking the same thing, because there was a faint hint of amusement to her thought as she said, _'I'm pretty sure I can find something. C'mon.'_

* * *

_'I don't even want to know how you found these.'_

_'Good,'_ Dawn replied. There was a sense of uncertainty to the thought. _'I'm really not quite sure myself.'_

_'How do we get out?'_ Zephyr asked. Even now, the Predacons might be winning, the Maximals injured or killed... 

It was Duskwind who supplied, _'I'd bet they haven't had time to fix that hole I blew.'_

Zephyr tried to find a clue as to what Duskwind was thinking, and couldn't, her own confusion keeping them separated. _'Good point. Let's go.'_

Duskwind had been right--the exit was still there, unchanged. The three leaped from the jagged opening, just barely making the edge of the cliff, not transforming for fear that the Predacons would hear the whirr of their wings. The explosions were clearly audible on the other side of the base. 

On edge with anticipation and fear, the three hurried around. Zephyr felt Duskwind push for control, and pushed back. There was no way she would let the Predacon fight this battle alone, not when she might well decide to take the opportunity to go to the Predacons instead. 

Dawn's sudden, almost effortless takeover shocked them both into stillness. _'We do this together,'_ the human said grimly. _'Together, or not at all. Zephyr, Duskwind's given her word. She'll keep it. Duskwind, you can't fight alone this time. There is no alone for us anymore.'_

Both warily agreed. Dawn released the tight control she had held. 

Duskwind reached for an explosive, while Zephyr readied her wrist laser, and Dawn watched and kept them from wasting time fighting one another. They rounded the last few steps. 

Rattrap was trapped, a large bot who Dawn somehow identified as Megatron holding a weapon to him. The leader of the Predacons wouldn't hesitate to fire on the short Maximal. 

Duskwind froze. _'The Predacon leader!'_ her suddenly unguarded thoughts reached the two who shared her mind. _'If I fire...I can never be on their side...What can I do? I can't let Rattrap be killed!'_

Zephyr could not help. She could only agree helplessly with Duskwind's circular train of thought. 

_'Duskwind!'_ Dawn's voice cut sharply through their awareness. _'Your explosive! Now!' _

It would be too late--Megatron was already beginning to fire--Zephyr let out the high-pitched trill of a hummingbird, almost painful to delicate auditory sensors, hoping it would buy enough time. Duskwind hurled the explosive, trusting Dawn's unspoken assurance that they would find a way to work it all out. 

* * *

Rattrap threw himself to the side, off the lift, as Predacon shots from above tracked toward him. Returning fire in that general direction, he took a quick overview of the situation. 

With Dinobot, Airazor, and Tigatron away, they were badly outnumbered. Most of the Predacons were there--Rampage held Rhinox at bay while Quickstrike took potshots at him, Waspinator and Inferno hovered above battling Optimus and generally making nuisances of themselves, and Tarantulas had Cheetor pinned down against a rock with sprays of bullets from his spider legs. 

Rattrap abandoned the cover of the Axalon's side and hurried to help the cheetah, whose slim protection was fast disintegrating under the continued fire. Ducking, firing, and keeping the rocks between himself and the Predacons, he slowly worked his way there. 

It didn't occur to him to wonder where Megatron was until the Predacon leader landed heavily not four feet away and lowered a gun that suddenly seemed at least twice Rattrap's size. 

He desperately tried to swing his own weapon into line, knowing instinctively it would be too late--sensed the faint warmth and the hum that foreshadowed a blast--_at this range there won't be enough of me left to take to a CR chamber--_

--and then there was a high-pitched whistle from behind him. Megatron looked away for a split second, startled. An instant later, a tiny box Rattrap recognized flew through the air and fastened itself to Megatron. 

The explosion blackened the Predacon's entire front, sending him staggering backwards in shock. Rattrap hardly felt a breeze. 

Rattrap yanked his gun into position and followed up with a few close-range shots of his own. Then he turned, astonished, to meet eyes that were flickering wildly from blue, to silver, to red, and back again. 

Rattrap shook his head in bemusement and turned back to the fight, hoping the three would have sense enough to get out of sight before one of the Preds caught sight of them--and hoping that Duskwind wouldn't suddenly decide to switch sides. 

* * *

"How," Optimus asked frostily, "precisely, did you manage to get at your weapons again?" 

Zephyr stared at him, defiant and at the same time somehow embarrassed. "We just...looked for them. Would you have preferred we let Rattrap get scrapped?" 

"Of course not," the leader snapped. "But you broke your agreement." 

"We didn't. We handed over our weapons while we were in the base, and we haven't hurt anything. We even turned everything back in after the fight was over. But what do you expect when you make us just sit here while you guys are in danger?" 

Optimus began to speak; stopped, paused for a moment, then said, "Maybe you're right. I apologize for my lack of trust. Thank you for your assistance." He turned to leave. Dawn thought she heard him murmur to Rhinox, "Check the security systems." 

Zephyr looked after the Maximal leader with a sense of helplessness. It wasn't their fault something had gone so wrong in their programming...but she wondered, even if the three could be separated, whether the Maximals would ever trust her. And Dawn...what would happen to her? The human would never fit in here. Duskwind, too, had little chance of being accepted by the Predacons, even if the Maximals let her leave. 

_'Especially now I've fought on the Maximal side,'_ Duskwind whispered. 

_'It will be all right,'_ Dawn reassured. _'Think about it. The Predacons don't know about our...situation. If we're separated, more than likely we'll be in entirely different forms. So you can start over. They'll never know you were with us.' _

The Predacon brightened. _'That's right, isn't it?'_

Dawn had taken charge briefly as she explained her reasoning to the others. Now she stiffened as Rattrap approached. Zephyr, surprised, felt her near-panic at the thought of talking to the rat for whom she had thrown herself into battle, and quickly retrieved control. 

"I wanted ta say thanks," Rattrap said quietly. "You saved my life." A flicker of doubt entered his optics. "Was it you, Zephyr?" 

"Actually," she said, "it was Dawn who pushed us into doing it. Duskwind...she was afraid to fight the Predacons. And I didn't know what to do." 

"Dawn." He looked surprised. "I wouldn't have expected her ta get involved in a battle." 

Zephyr knew quite well why Dawn had done it, and the knowledge roused a strange feeling in her. _'Don't tell him,'_ the human girl pleaded. _'I don't want him to know.' _

_'All right.'_ "Duskwind helped, too," she felt obliged to add. "Even if she is a Predacon, she can be trusted." 

He nodded. "If you think so, I believe you." There was a long hesitation. "Zephyr...how did you find your weapons? Especially in time to get out there and save the day?" 

"Hardly that." Zephyr silently queried Dawn, but the human was in no shape to explain. "I'm not entirely sure, Rattrap. It was Dawn who found them. She just went right to your storage area under the lower deck and told us this was where you'd most likely be keeping explosives and weapons." 

Rattrap shook his head in disbelief. "How'd she know?" 

The brief image that flashed through the shared mind was unhelpful, to say the least. Zephyr shrugged halfheartedly. "Believe me, you don't want to know." 

"Sure I do. Why wouldn't I?" 

She hesitated again. "Because...because she saw it on television, wherever she came from. On Earth. She says." 

He rocked back, staring. "You were right. I didn't want to know." 

"Don't tell anyone? Please? It'd make them absolutely sure we're crazy." 

"True." 

She searched his face, and sighed. "You'll tell anyway. Never mind. They all think we're crazy already, anyway." 

"Ain't ya? You do have a neural malfunction, which is the technical definition of 'crazy'." 

"I suppose." 

He grinned. "But we like ya anyway." 

Zephyr looked down. "Really." 

"Of course. You're safe here, Zephyr; all of ya. Rhinox's the best scientist I know. He'll figure out a way to separate you." 

Red optics snapped up into his. "And then what will you do with me?" Duskwind asked bleakly. "You can't get rid of me now because I'm sharing the body of a Maximal, but what happens when we're separated?" 

Taken aback, Rattrap was about to answer her when a loud, strident bleep broke the silence. "Predacon signature detected," Sentinel's emotionless voice said. "Activating security systems." 

Rattrap turned to see a nonlethal stun weapon being leveled at Duskwind from the wall. "Oh slag--Zephyr, come back! Now!" 

Startled red optics changed to equally surprised silver. The weapon withdrew as Sentinel said, "Predacon signature lost." 

"What was that about?" the Maximal demanded. 

"Our security system. Sentinel. I guess no one thought to program in Duskwind's signature--hold on a minute." Rattrap's comlink activated with a small beep. "What happened down there?" Rhinox's voice came urgently. 

"Nothin', big green," Rattrap responded. "I was talkin' to Zephyr, and then she switched over so I could talk with Duskwind, and Sentinel went bananas. Didn't anyone think to set her in as a friendly?" 

There was a short pause, then Rhinox returned, sounding almost embarrassed. "I'm afraid not. I just assumed since she was already inside and we weren't having any trouble, I didn't need to." 

"Well, apparently ya do." 

"I'll get to it right away. Zephyr, Dawn, Duskwind, when you have time I'll need you to come up here so I can get a scan on each of your signatures." 

"All right," Zephyr agreed into the com. It clicked off. "What was that about?" she asked Rattrap again. 

"Sentinel's set to disable Predacon intruders. Rhinox didn't add Duskwind as a friendly, so it was trying to paralyze her." 

"I...see." Was that a red flicker of suspicion at the back of her optics? "And now he's going to make sure it doesn't happen again?" 

"Right." 

"Good. Let's go, then." She began to walk quickly back to the bridge, forcing him to hurry to catch up. 

* * *

"Duskwind, if you would." 

Optics flashed red. The little hummingbird stood steadily in the center of a sensor ring. 

"Zephyr." 

Silver once more. A pause. 

"Dawn." 

Bright blue. Dawn looked faintly nervous. 

Rhinox frowned at the console before him. "That can't be right...Zephyr, would you come back for a moment?" 

The Maximal complied. "Is something wrong?" 

"Might be a glitch in the scanners...it seems to be working now. Dawn, please." 

As the human returned, Rhinox let out a sigh and began to twist dials on the side of the scanner. "Must need recalibrating," he muttered. 

Very quietly, "What is it?" 

The scientist didn't answer for a brief moment. Then he scowled heavily. "That's impossible. It's working all right." 

"What is it?" Dawn repeated, no louder than the first time. 

"I can't find a signature. Duskwind's distinctly Predacon, and Zephyr's Maximal, but I can't find one for you at all." 

"Why is that so unusual?" 

"Any Cybertronian gives off a unique energy signature from their basic circuits," he explained. "Every once in a while you'll find someone damaged or shielded enough to block it, but it's still there. You're not shielded, and both the others have normal signatures, but I can't find a thing. It's like when you're in control, your circuits aren't Cybertronian at all." 

"Maybe they're not. I am human, after all. But Sentinel won't attack me?" 

"Oh, no," Rhinox reassured. "Sentinel can't even find you. It depends on signatures to track people." 

"Are you done?" 

"Yes." 

She stepped from the circle. "Rhinox, how come Sentinel didn't attack Duskwind the first time she woke up?" 

"I'm trying to figure that out. It didn't register her at all." 

"Like me." 

"Well, yes." 

"I was trying to keep awake," Dawn said thoughtfully. "Maybe I blocked her somehow." 

"How do you mean--keep awake?" 

"Be aware. I was trying to talk to Duskwind, to keep her from doing anything bad. I didn't want to just take control, but I almost did when she was attacking Rattrap." 

"I appreciate that," Rattrap murmured. "Why didn't you?" 

"I felt she wasn't going to hurt you, and I figured it would be better to have some time alone for us to come to terms with the situation." 

Rhinox nodded. "Probably a wise idea--though I'm not too happy about your exit. It'll take forever to repair that hole you left." 

She winced. "Sorry about that." 

"And weren't you risking kinda a lot on a feeling?" Rattrap added. 

Dawn flinched, eyes panicky, in rather an overreaction to the question, then calmed herself. "Maybe feeling isn't the right word. I mean I felt it..." At a loss, she tapped the side of her head. "I just...knew it. Our thoughts overlap a bit." 

"Oh." Rhinox looked faintly thoughtful, studying her for a long moment. "Thank you for your assistance," he said finally. "I think that should take care of that problem. I'll get back to work on your other difficulty." 

The hummingbird nodded. "We really appreciate your trying," she said, with a shy smile. 

Rattrap looked at the small bot, feeling oddly sympathetic. "It will be all right," he said gently. 

Uncertainty flickered, all three colors visible for a long moment. But she nodded gamely. "Shall we finish that tour?" the newcomer inquired. 

* * *

Main Page || Back to the Stories


	2. Triangle, Part Two

Triangle, Part Two __

Triangle, Part Two   
by Dawn

For what seemed the thousandth time, Tarantulas examined the records of the short battle. There were the Maximals...the normal exchanges of fire..._there!_

He stopped the recording, rewound a few seconds, and replayed it. Here was Megatron's attack on the Maximal rat, and then the unexpected intrusion of the new protoform. An odd technique, the explosive, and effective at least this time, combined with the distraction. 

Tarantulas rewound once again. Where had the hummingbird bot come from? Not the main lifts, they would have seen it. She'd seemed to come from around the other side of the Axalon. A secret door, perhaps, or damage of some kind. He'd look into that later. 

Just now he was far more interested in the way she had behaved. That hesitation, for instance. Simply that she wasn't used to fighting, or something else? There had been something odd about her optics...he tightened the screen on them, played it forward slowly. 

They flickered, changing color at an astounding rate that simply wasn't normal. Blue, red, silver, and back again, in an expression which showed fear and astonishment and relief in changes almost as swift. Tarantulas chuckled softly. So his experiment with the pod hadn't been entirely a failure after all. 

The Predacon programming he had implanted into the protoform should have remained submerged for far longer; that it hadn't was disappointing. It ought to have existed separate from the original Maximal personality, something he could activate when needed and control for whatever purpose came about. Still, it was only the first trial, after all. There was time. He would find a way to control the protoform, and all the better if she was almost entirely Maximal as he did it...and it seemed despite the programming conflicts the hummingbird had to be undergoing, she had still managed to stay more or less true to the original personality. 

The project had come about through his experience in controlling Blackarachnia, and a fortuitous discovery of a nearly-undamaged pod. He'd had to tell Megatron a little, of course, but most of it he kept to himself... The change in eye color was a side effect he hadn't been able to get rid of, but it shouldn't cause a problem. 

Tarantulas ran his claw across a metal hemisphere. When the time came, he could get into the newcomer's mind just as he had Blackarachnia's, and be within the Maximal base unsuspected. He considered trying it now, but restrained himself. Better to wait just a little longer, to let the bot gain the Maximals' trust and to learn a bit more about her. Because one detail on the playback had stuck worryingly in his mind: 

Her eyes had flickered between not two colors, but _three_. 

* * *

Zephyr stared out at the dusty plain, where the sun was beginning to sink behind the horizon. _'You really think they'll manage it?'_ she wondered to the other two who shared her mind. 

_'If they can't, what did we come here for?'_ Duskwind retorted. _'I still think we'd be better off with the Predacons...'_

_'They would never have let me live, Duskwind, or Dawn either. Maybe not even you; too much of a security risk, hidden Maximal tendencies and all. Talk sense.'_

The crimson-eyed personality let out a long sigh. It was getting easier to share control, and Duskwind wasn't sure she liked that. _'Maybe. What kind of life will we have here, though? They'll never trust you, for the same reason. And Dawn's a misfit wherever she goes.'_

_'Thank you ever so much for that vote of confidence,'_ interjected Dawn acidly. _'We'll manage. We're all misfits right now, but we'll manage. And aren't the clouds beautiful over on the horizon?'_

The other two shook their head in unison. The human was undoubtedly the strangest of them, though somehow she'd also become the one who had the last say in decisions. 

A voice from a few feet away interrupted their silent conversation. "Eh--nice sunset, isn't it?" 

Zephyr looked up with a smile for the short Maximal. "Yeah, it is. And it's something all of us can agree on, which is unusual." 

Rattrap's expression flickered. _Oh, way to go,_ Zephyr berated herself silently. _Remind him of all the reasons he can't trust you, can't be friends with you._ Somehow, Rattrap's approval and acceptance had become very important to her over the scant week she'd been in the Axalon. Part of it was spillover from Dawn, who for some indefinable reason really liked the rat, though she rarely had the courage to speak up around him; part of it was from Duskwind's guilt at that first, violent attack. But part--_oh, all right, most,_ she admitted to the quiet blue-eyed presence, most of it was her own feeling. 

Apparently sensing Zephyr's distress, Rattrap sat down beside her. "Must be hard, huh?" 

She nodded, not speaking. 

Rattrap shifted a bit. "Look...Zephyr, I know you're worried about things. Rhinox is the best at this sort of thing, though; if he can't separate you, no one can. And afterwards--you came here of your own free will, I won't let any harm come to any of you. Even the Pred." 

Harm could be defined several ways, Zephyr thought, but didn't press the question. It was a guarantee better than she'd expected, even if Rattrap was speaking only for himself and not for all the Maximals. "Thank you," she murmured. "That means a lot to me." 

The Maximal looked over to meet her unstained silver optics, and smiled. They watched what remained of the sunset together in silence, and neither Dawn nor Duskwind said a word from the back of Zephyr's mind. 

* * *

It was rare for Dawn, Zephyr, and Duskwind all to sleep at once; in fact, they hadn't done it since those first blackouts. Even at night, it was simpler for one to remain awake, both for practical reasons, such as quicker response in emergencies, according to Duskwind, and for privacy ones. They just found it nice to have a few cycles in which to think without the other two eavesdropping. 

So they took turns. It happened to be Duskwind's turn to have control that night, though Zephyr had rather wanted to switch. It had taken Dawn's rationalization that Zephyr would want to have control tomorrow as well, and that wouldn't be quite fair to Duskwind, to convince the Maximal to leave well enough alone. 

Dawn, Duskwind mused, was turning into quite a diplomat. It was a good thing, because without her the constant arguments would have paralyzed the Maximal and Predacon, both unwilling to do anything the other suggested just on principle. With her to coax, convince, and occasionally bully--well, it wasn't perfect harmony, but they could function. 

_What would have happened if we'd gone to the Predacon base instead?_ wondered Duskwind suddenly. _Would we be separated by now?_ The Predacons, she knew from Dawn's unexplained familiarity with the situation, had more resources and were more inclined to attempt strange experiments. It was quite likely that the three of them would have been in their own bodies by now. And yet...Duskwind was startled to realize that she didn't want Zephyr or Dawn hurt, as they surely would have been in that case, held hostage or reprogrammed. 

Duskwind let out a sigh. _I'm going soft,_ she told herself, shifting uncomfortably on her metal slab of a bed. Maybe it was Dawn's constant explanations that had bridged the gap between Maximal and Predacon, or maybe just the fact that none of them could really have hidden any secret plans, but she was almost beginning to trust the two who shared her mind. 

It was a very un-Predacon-like habit, and it made Duskwind afraid that more than just thoughts and emotions were creeping over the boundaries. What would happen if they actually started to merge? She could almost get used to the present situation, but a permanent joining...she wanted to be _alone_ in her own head! 

She shifted again, beginning to feel awfully drowsy. Maybe it would have been better to let Zephyr take this night after all...she'd spent the day awake, mostly arguing. Duskwind reached for the feel of the other two minds, but found only the faint background hum of a recharge cycle from Zephyr and the strangely vivid images of Dawn's sleep. She ought to wake them, before she fell asleep...but she was so very tired... 

Duskwind fleetingly thought that this couldn't be quite normal, but before more than a vague uneasiness registered, she was unconscious. 

Moments later, the hummingbird bot's optics opened again. They were brightly green. 

* * *

In the bridge of the Axalon, Rattrap was asleep on sentry duty...again, Tarantulas knew from the memories he'd so far managed to retrieve. He stifled a low chuckle. Hardly surprising that the rat neglected his duties, but useful nonetheless. 

There were indeed more than a few oddities about the newest addition to the Beast Wars, but his low-level surveillance had paid off; none of the three minds had any idea he was there, since he'd come when the Predacon personality over which he had some control was solely in charge. Not even she--Duskwind, she called herself--would know what had happened once he was gone, as long as he was careful in what he did and how long he stayed. Veiled beneath her energy signature, Tarantulas could hide even from Sentinel. 

He didn't intend to do anything on this first trip beyond gathering information, both about the Maximal base and about the transformer he'd created. Tarantulas had expected to have full access to all three sets of memories, but that was the strangest anomaly. The third personality was so different from anything Tarantulas had seen before that it was difficult just keeping her from noticing his presence, much less tapping into her memories, and both of the other personalities had become contaminated in places with the same alien programming. 

Tarantulas crept quietly away from the bridge and deeper into the ship. If possible, he wanted to avoid being seen. He didn't think much of the general intelligence level of the Maximals, but it might lead to awkward questions later...not to mention the probable shift in eye color and voice, a dead giveaway for him if he wasn't careful. 

Yes, this had definite possibilities. He'd have to consider which course of action would give him the most advantage...but this little hummingbird might just be his key to power. 

* * *

Duskwind awoke in the same instant as the other two, a confusing jumble of images clouding her thoughts. Had something happened...no, the Predacon remembered, faintly ashamed, she'd fallen asleep. 

_'You fell asleep?'_ Zephyr demanded. _'Without even waking one of us up? Duskwind...'_

_'I know, I know, I'm sorry,'_ she responded irritably. _'I couldn't help it. Not my fault someone kept me awake arguing all day.'_

The Maximal bristled and would have burst out in anger if Dawn hadn't intervened once again. _'It doesn't matter, Zephyr,'_ the human said rather wearily, _'it was her turn and she fell asleep, it doesn't affect you. You have control today, don't start it off with a fight.'_

_'Oh all right,'_ Zephyr agreed rather sulkily, then sighed. _'I'm...sorry, Duskwind. I'm feeling a little upset for some reason this morning.'_

Duskwind felt the same way, oddly tense and irritable, but wasn't about to let the Maximal know if she could help it. _'Apology accepted. Go on, get up. It's your turn after all.'_

A little more cheerful, Zephyr stood and began to leave their quarters. _'Rattrap said maybe he could take us on a short patrol today,'_ she reminded them. _'So behave. They'll never let us go if we're arguing.'_

Dawn and Duskwind chorused silent agreement, knowing it to be true; the periods of silence with optics flickering between personalities made the Maximals rather wary, and the three didn't seem to be able to hide the signs of heated discussion. All were looking forward to getting out of the Axalon for a little while; it was a nice enough place for being a wrecked ship, but after a week of confinement it had grown slightly dull. 

Rattrap was waiting for them on the bridge. "Ready ta go exploring?" he greeted. 

"_Oh_ yes," Zephyr replied fervently. 

The rat grinned at her enthusiasm and looked to Rhinox. "Okay with you, big green?" he asked. 

Rhinox nodded absently. "Optimus says you can," he rumbled, "'s long as you don't stay out too long. And be careful." 

"Of course," agreed Rattrap. Zephyr let out a cheer and darted for the lift with a speed born of her hummingbird beast mode, transforming as she went. Rattrap followed, with a muttered aside to Rhinox: "Keep an eye on our signatures, will ya?" 

* * *

Even in beast mode, Rattrap noted, the hummingbird's eyes took on faint shades of the personality in control. At the moment it was Zephyr's silvery gleam; had been so far today, as he thought about it. 

It had become a touchy subject, the newcomer's multiple personalities; never quite mentioned by the Maximals for fear of alienating her, and rarely brought up by the three themselves, perhaps in an effort to fit in. Rattrap had never been much for delicately avoiding a subject, but this was a little different. 

Never trust a Pred, he'd thrown that in Dinobot's face more than once, but how did you say it to someone sharing the body of a Maximal? And, he admitted ruefully to himself, a Maximal he'd begun to like...Zephyr was sweet, helpful, not to mention shorter than he was, and almost seemed to like him in return. If Rhinox ever figured out how to separate the three...well...who knew? It was possible. 

Of course, that brought up the question of what could be done with Duskwind and Dawn...a misfit Pred and a delusional, supposedly human girl. Separation might just cause more problems than it solved. 

He glanced ahead. Zephyr was cheerfully hovering over one of the clumps of wildflowers which had become more frequent as they drew closer to the nearby forest. Her rapid wings gave a low, not unpleasant hum, very different from the high-pitched buzz of an insect Transformer. "Rattrap?" she called, "do you know what these are?" 

"No," he replied, with only a cursory glance. "Some kinda plant." 

"Well, _that's_ obvious enough," Zephyr commented with a small laugh. She looked over the red-gold blossoms again, let out a faint sigh, and turned away. _Beast mode instincts,_ she thought. But they did look like they'd have a good deal of nectar... 

_'You're getting sidetracked,'_ Duskwind noted. _'Cut it out.'_

_'Sorry.'_ The Maximal flitted back toward Rattrap. "What exactly are we looking for, anyway?" she inquired. 

"Preds mostly, or any sign they've been here. It's not likely this far in, but sometimes--" 

His comm went off. "Rattrap," Rhinox's voice came though, sounding rather anxious, "I'm seeing three Predacon signatures not far from your position. Looks like Blackarachnia, Inferno, and Megatron." 

Rattrap let out a low whistle. "Megs himself? Wonder what he wants, comin' in so close." 

"Best guess? He's testing our new ally. Be careful." 

"I hear ya. We're headin' back." Rattrap clicked off and looked at Zephyr. "Sorry ta cut your little vacation short, but with Preds around we can't risk it." 

"I understand," she agreed, wondering whether she did. 

_'Three of them, two of us, and we're not much help in a fight. He's right.'_

_'But is that the only reason?'_

_'Duskwind, you're way too suspicious,'_ the human chided. 

_'Possibly. And you're naïve. What's your point?'_

Zephyr sighed in exasperation, and only just kept from doing it aloud. _'Can we not discuss this right now? I'm trying to concentrate here.'_

There was a silent wave of apology, contrite and sullen respectively. Zephyr smiled at Rattrap a bit diffidently. "Back to base, then." 

He raised an optic ridge in faint uncertainty and nodded. 

But they hadn't gone far when the first shots hit. Rattrap let out a muffled curse and dragged the hummingbird behind the shelter of a fairly large rock, transforming as he did so. Zephyr followed his lead, activating her hand laser and wishing it were a bit more effective. 

_'Give me control,'_ Duskwind demanded. _'You know I'm a better fighter than you are.'_

Zephyr wasn't fond of that idea. Who was to say the Predacon wouldn't take this chance to switch sides? She cast about for a plausible reason to refuse. _'They'll see our energy signature change. Can't risk it yet.'_

_'Better that than Rattrap dying! Come on, Zephyr, you can't even use my weapons.'_

_'So tell me how. We don't have time to argue now, Duskwind.'_

_'Zephyr's right about that,'_ Dawn put in. _'If it gets bad and Zephyr can't handle your weapons, come in, Duskwind. Otherwise leave it to her.'_

_'All right, fine,'_ Duskwind muttered sullenly. _'Long as she remembers.'_

Duskwind's earlier comment made Zephyr wonder a bit whether perhaps she wasn't the only one with unexplained feelings for the rat. There was no time for thinking it through now, though. The brief argument had already delayed them enough. Inferno's flamethrowers and Blackarachnia's bullets were chipping steadily away at their rock, and there was Megatron to worry about as well, wherever he'd gotten to. 

Zephyr lowered her own laser and drew out Duskwind's more powerful gun instead. She thought she saw Rattrap throw her a brief glance of suspicion, but there was no time for that either; she peeked around the edge and began firing. 

Her aim wasn't great with the heavy weapon, but a lucky shot clipped the ant's arm and Rattrap's better accuracy sent the flamethrower spinning away moments later. Zephyr shifted toward Blackarachnia, trying to steady the gun against the rock. 

_We can't win this._ The thought came with a terrible certainty, and all three personalities knew it. They were very little help at this range, especially with Zephyr the only one who could have control without giving away their secret. The other Maximals couldn't possibly get here in time...but if they... 

Rattrap noted that Zephyr's fire had stopped and began to look over toward her--to be stopped short as the barrel of a gun pressed sharply against his head. A brief scan revealed what he already knew he would find: four Predacon signatures, surrounding him. 

Four. He turned slightly to catch a glimpse of the hummingbird holding him captive. Her eyes were bright red and held a purely Predacon look of contempt...but in their depths he thought he saw a silver glimmer of shame, and--apology. Rattrap shut his optics in anger and despair. So Duskwind had tricked everyone after all. 

The Predacon hummingbird blinked calmly up at the numerous weapons aimed at her. "You might want to take his explosives," she suggested to Megatron. The Predacon leader had approached them from behind, unnoticed. In the next moments he might have been able to kill them both. 

Megatron frowned at her. "I'll do that. And yours as well, if you please. Are you suicidal, or have you an explanation for this?" 

"Check my signature," she shrugged. "I'm Predacon, obviously. Though whoever programmed my pod didn't do much of a job of it. I've a Maximal persona trapped in here with me. I convinced the little idiot we should work together, and I've been lying low. Now that I have a chance to come across without a half-dozen Maximals shooting me first, I'm taking it. My name's Duskwind." 

"And your...Maximal persona?" 

"Whining about broken promises." Duskwind sighed. "You'll want to check out my story, of course. Do you intend to kill that one, or hold him for bait?" 

The Predacon leader stared suspiciously down. He wasn't about to believe the cool-voiced little bird, but it _was_ possible. Her signature showed in his optics as Predacon--not just an overlaid activation code, but Predacon throughout. And the rat's posture spoke eloquently of betrayal. 

Well, he'd intended to capture them both anyway. If she wanted to come along, it would save him the trouble of dragging her. He signaled Blackarachnia, who promptly fired a dose of cybervenom into Rattrap. Duskwind showed no sign of dismay, merely withdrawing her weapon and offering it handle-first to Megatron. He accepted it, along with the various disarmed explosives she also handed over, and gestured politely for her to precede him. "This way, if you would, my dear." 

* * *

"Well?" Megatron asked impatiently. "What have you found?" 

Tarantulas let out an inaudible hiss. "There are certainly some...abnormalities in her programming," he began. "The Maximals' interference with my work has caused a secondary personality to form, as she said. It's impossible to tell which is dominant, but from my observations--" he looked up, noted Megatron's expression, and finished hurriedly, "Duskwind's telling the truth." 

_How_ dare _she ruin my plans like this,_ his mind was seething, but he wasn't enraged enough to throw away what was still a potentially valuable weapon. If she could get Megatron's trust, it might be better yet. He still didn't know how that third personality had formed, but its presence might give away his tampering if he told Megatron. Not like he told Megatron much of anything anyway. 

The subject of the conversation was unconscious in an R tank, while Tarantulas ran his tests. Duskwind had been quite willing to submit to whatever tests Megatron felt necessary to prove herself. Almost eager, Tarantulas thought, as though she wanted to know more about herself as much as they did...perfectly possible. The hummingbird had to be horribly confused. 

Even more so than _he_ was. How had the Predacon persona managed to gain control? Unless the Maximal was far weaker than he'd anticipated...Tarantulas chuckled. Yes, that was probably the case. There was, after all, no way a Maximal would voluntarily let his Predacon creation take control. 

"What are the chances of her...Maximal side...regaining control?" demanded Megatron. 

"Impossible to determine. Though since it hasn't yet, probably fairly small." 

The Predacon leader nodded. "Begin work on a shell, then. Maximal--no real weapons--and include some way to control it from a distance. We'll separate them, and get both a warrior and a tool against the Maximals." 

Tarantulas chuckled again. "Immediately, Megatron." 

"For _me_ to control it from a distance," Megatron clarified, staring at the spider intently. 

"The thought of doing otherwise never crossed my mind." _Close, but wrong again, Megatron..._

* * *

They drifted within the tank, offline but not entirely unconscious. Dawn slept within, hidden from the Predacon sensors by the activity of the other two, a near-continuous trading of thoughts not far from an argument. 

_'How do I know you weren't telling the Preds the truth?'_

_'You know because you've been prying at my mind ever since, Zephyr. Shush.'_

_'If Rattrap dies from this plan of yours...'_

_'Then we will all be dead shortly after, no doubt, if not before. I don't want him hurt any more than you do, astonishing as that might seem to you.'_

A pause. 

_'No. I believe you. About that, anyway.'_

Duskwind paused in mild shock. She'd expected another rebuttal, something about the events of the day. _'I know you don't trust me,'_ she said cautiously, _'but we do need to work together. If you can believe me on that, it's a start, at least.'_

The Maximal stifled something like a bleak laugh. _'He's...a confusing subject. I don't know who was first, but we're all falling in love with the rat. Hadn't you realized?'_

_'No! I--'_ But, Duskwind realized with a sinking feeling, Zephyr was quite right. Whether the emotion had leaked or they were all to blame, there was a tenderness when she thought of Rattrap that couldn't be explained away as either friendship or guilt. 

It would never work. Even if by some miracle they all survived and more unlikely yet Rattrap felt the same, he would choose one of them. He would choose Zephyr, if anyone. She was a Maximal and most suited to him. Duskwind was Predacon and more likely to be shot down, if they were ever separated. 

She tried to block the feeling, convince herself that it was a leak and not really hers, and couldn't. It didn't seem to matter where the feeling had originated; by now it was her own as much as it had been Zephyr's or Dawn's. 

_'It was the human, wasn't it? I _knew_ there was something strange about the way she felt--!'_

Below their level of semi-consciousness, they felt a stir of blue. _'Shh!'_ Zephyr snapped. _'Do you want them finding her? She's the only chance we have of getting him out.'_

_'I know that. I came up with the plan.'_

_'Then be quiet, unless you want to ruin it.'_

Duskwind managed to follow the advice for a moment (time was meaningless while they half-slept) before bursting out again, _'You know what this means?!'_

The silvery personality couldn't hide a shiver of fear. _'It hasn't gone far yet. It's reversible.'_

_'You hope it is,'_ Duskwind said grimly. _'We've begun to merge. If it goes much farther, they won't be able to separate us. Ever.'_

* * *

Megatron watched closely as the little hummingbird was raised from the healing fluid. He knew Tarantulas well enough to see when the spider wasn't telling him something, but this time had very little idea what it could be. 

He'd watched the monitors for a while after Tarantulas had gone off to start work on his new assignment, since the Maximal persona would have been most likely to attempt a takeover while Duskwind was vulnerable; and there had certainly been a great deal of activity between the two. But her signature was firmly Predacon for the moment. 

Duskwind looked about, appearing faintly disoriented, then launched into a softly humming flight from the lift platform. She transformed with a murmured "Terrorize" and approached him with proper respect. 

He said nothing for a moment, but her polite demeanor made it clear she was waiting for him to speak first. Rather a pleasant change from the majority of his troops. It would be almost a pity if he had to kill her. 

"The readouts confirm your claims. We will have your secondary personality removed as soon as possible," he informed her. 

She relaxed slightly, and said "_Thank_ you, sir," with a very genuine relief. 

Megatron noted with interest that it seemed to be more at the thought of separation than the proof of her truthfulness. But then it had to be an immense strain on her, keeping control. "Tarantulas is preparing the form now. Until it is complete, you have the run of the base--but do not leave it." 

Duskwind nodded. "Understood, sir." 

With a final nod to the newcomer, Megatron left the room, headed for his control platform. He'd see what she chose to do. He wasn't foolish enough to let her off without a bug attached, after all. 

Duskwind watched the Predacon leader leave. _'He'll have attached a bug, you know.'_

_'Of course,'_ Zephyr agreed sourly. _'You Preds and your plots. Not like we need to talk, anyway.'_

_'But it'll be a nuisance when it comes time to rescue Rattrap.'_

_'Thought you had that all worked out.'_

_'I do, I do. But you'll be doing that part, too. Can you manage?'_

_'Trust me. We don't have much choice.'_

The plans had undergone a swift change with the realization that their time as separate entities was running out. What had been a relatively simple plan to gain some measure of trust, then sneak Rattrap out while under Dawn's lack of signature had been moved sharply forward: the rescue had to be completed before they were separated, and the separation could not be delayed or faked. It left no time to find the planted bug or gain Megatron's trust. The revised plan relied heavily on their skills at acting--and, again, on their cooperation. 

Zephyr sighed mentally. _'I'm not going to like this, though...'_

And, Duskwind admitted very quietly, neither would she. _'Never mind that. We have to wake Dawn up now.'_

* * *

The intense heat from below informed Rattrap immediately on waking up that he was in a cage above the lava pits--again. This time, though, he quickly verified, they'd taken away his lock picks. And posted a guard; Inferno stood at the edge of the lava, flamethrower stiffly over one shoulder. Not much chance of distracting him. 

Blackarachnia's cybervenom had left him with a pounding headache that worsened when he moved. But somehow, Duskwind's betrayal hurt more. 

He'd let his guard down. He'd _known_ better than to trust the Pred. But it was so hard to think of Zephyr as a threat, he'd forgotten about Duskwind. And, honestly, even had he remembered the Predacon...well, she had saved his life in the battle around the Axalon, when it would have been easy enough for her simply to stay out of it. 

Dinobot's proven trustworthiness had perhaps taken the edge off his suspicion. But he ought to have known better. 

Never again, Rattrap promised himself. No one would trick him like that again. Assuming he lived through this. 

A voice from below attracted his attention. The hummingbird had come in and was speaking softly to Inferno. Probably come to gloat, Rattrap decided. "What are you doing to Zephyr?" he demanded of her, surprising even himself with his vehemence. 

The expression Duskwind turned up to the captured Maximal did nothing to change his opinion; her crimson optics held only contempt. "That," she said after a measured pause, "is between the two of us and none of your concern. One would almost think you had feelings for the weakling." 

She held his gaze for a moment more, and carelessly flicked back the brown, downy feathers about her face. Her hand brushed her audio sensor on the way. Then the Predacon spun on one heel and left the area. 

Rattrap's jaw clenched. Zephyr had compromised with the Pred, allowed her to stay, even spoken up for her, how _dare_ Duskwind-- 

A stray thought finally found its way through, and he stopped in sudden shock. _The _two_ of us?_

_And she didn't mention Dawn in front of Megatron...I've never seen any of them make that gesture before. She was trying to tell me something. Audios--she's bugged, obviously._

Unwilling to trust again and unable to quite repress hope, Rattrap settled back in the cage, and wondered what had caused the change in the hummingbird's expression near the end of her little speech. A note of something like pain had entered it, just before she left... 

* * *

_'Do you think he understood?'_

The rest of the thought was suppressed, but Dawn and Zephyr both heard it well enough: _because I don't think he did._

The Maximal knew lying was impossible now, and couldn't bring herself to say what she thought she had seen. _'It doesn't matter, really. We know where he is, we'll be able to get him out when the time comes.'_

A silent, disdainful sniff from Duskwind; yes, maybe to their plan it wouldn't matter, but just then that seemed far less important than other things. 

_'I think he got the message,'_ Dawn said firmly. _'It'll be hard convincing him later, maybe, but he understood.'_

Duskwind pried suspiciously at the blue thoughts and could find no trace of deception. _'This isn't like me,'_ she muttered. _'I shouldn't be...feeling this way. I still think it's your fault,'_ she added accusingly to the human. 

_'Possible,'_ Dawn admitted. _'I'm sorry for it, if I did.'_

Again, the Predacon felt nothing but sincerity; Dawn truly regretted the pain she'd caused. Unless she was just really, really good at faking it. _'Never mind, then. All right. Part two. Your turn, Zephyr. Make it look good.'_

_'Should we find a Predacon first? No point acting without an audience.'_

_'Your act, you choose. But do it quickly.'_

There was a silent grin. _'Why, Duskwind! I'm flattered. Didn't think you trusted me that much.'_

_'Don't get used to it.'_

_'No fear of that.'_ Zephyr looked about, through Duskwind's concealing control. The hummingbird transformer set off deeper into the Predacon base. 

* * *

Spying on his new recruit, Megatron decided with something between pleasure and annoyance, was incredibly boring. 

After the briefly interesting confrontation with the Maximal rat, the little bird had proceeded to spend a good twenty cycles wandering aimlessly through the base--possibly getting to know the layout of her new home, or perhaps exploring for less innocent reasons, but nothing he could really be suspicious of. She had introduced herself to Quickstrike, who was unfailingly polite to the new femme, and then run into Waspinator. The two were evidently kindred spirits, because they had now been talking for a megacycle about the nutritional value of _flowers_, no less. 

Megatron sighed. It looked rather as though Duskwind, like Inferno, was affected somewhat by her beast mode--though not to such an extent, obviously. Still, a fascination with flowers and sweets wasn't too terrible a thing to have; if all else failed maybe he could bribe her. It worked with Waspinator on the rare occasions the speech-impaired Predacon failed to do as he was told. 

Just then, her inane babble trailed off midway through a sentence. Megatron looked up, startled. What had-- 

"Is something wrong with humming-bot?" Waspinator buzzed, something like genuine worry in his tone briefly catching Megatron's attention. 

Silence for a moment, a faint rustle of feathers as though Duskwind was shivering uncontrollably. Then, "No...no, Waspy, thank you, nothing is wrong," came though the open comm. "I just...I'll...I'll see you later, all right?" And another rustle, then a thud as though the hummingbird had collided with a wall on her way out. 

Frowning, Megatron leaned forward. Something was certainly amiss with the newcomer, though it was understandable enough that she would deny it. Most likely the Maximal portion was making an attempt at control. If she succeeded, even briefly, it might cause no end of trouble in the base...although how exactly he could affect a mental battle of that sort he had no idea. 

He brought up the security cameras in that section to catch a glimpse of the bird, still stumbling her way down a hallway. She didn't seem to be going anywhere in particular, though the general direction could lead to the control room, perhaps to seek help. 

Abruptly, her form froze. A final shiver, and then something had very definitely changed: her stance was tentative, she held close against the wall in anxiety, the way she walked was almost a nervous dash. But no longer toward him--the opposite way--and Megatron realized only then that she was just a short distance from the holding cells. If he scanned the newcomer now, he knew with a sinking feeling, her signature would be Maximal. 

Abandoning the monitors, he grabbed for his comlink. "Inferno!" 

"Yes, my Queen?" the ant replied promptly. 

Megatron didn't bother with his usual denial of the title. "A Maximal is--" 

There was a deafening explosion through the comlink--then nothing but static. 

The Predacon leader cursed and bolted downward. Maybe he could still get there in time... 

* * *

Rattrap absently stared out through the cage bars, mind sifting over various improbable escape scenarios. Whatever the Preds had planned for him had evidently been delayed by Zephyr's strange situation, something he supposed he should be grateful about. That was difficult, however, when he still didn't know what they were doing to the gentle Maximal personality of the hummingbird...or what, exactly, Duskwind's role in all this was. 

He glanced over toward Inferno, still standing ramrod straight beside the entrance. The ant seemed to be saying something into his comlink, Rattrap noted curiously. Orders from Megatron, probably, and unlikely to do him any good. 

Something small and black skittered across the floor, and a startled Rattrap watched it come to rest no more than a foot from Inferno. The subsequent explosion blew the Pred to the opposite wall in several blackened pieces. Rattrap stared, bemused--that was normally _his_ style. 

Zephyr's slight form emerged from the corridor, darting above the lava to his cage. Swift hands attached another explosive to the lower corner of the bars. "Watch out," she advised. 

Rattrap obeyed, scrambling to the opposite side as the hummingbird triggered the blast. A large portion of the cage broke away, dropping to melt in the lava below. "Zephyr?" he asked hopefully. 

She gave a quick, nervous jerk of the head, silver optics wide in fear. "Come on! He'll already know, and I'm not sure how long I can keep control!" 

"Can you carry me over the lava?" Rattrap demanded, leaving the important but less urgent questions for later. At her nod, he jumped to cling to her shoulders, trusting her judgment of her own abilities. 

The sudden extra strain on her small jets sent the pair on a wildly tilting downward course, but Zephyr retained power enough to land safely. "Go!" she gasped the moment they touched down. 

"I can't leave you here," he protested. 

Zephyr shook her head frantically. "She's a Predacon, we'd turn on you, delay you, you have to go _now_!" 

Hating himself for it, Rattrap fell into vehicle mode. "We'll be back for you, Zephyr," he promised, hoping desperately that it wouldn't turn out a lie. 

"They'll be expecting you," she warned, "be careful--now go!" 

Rattrap looked up at the femme for an agonizing moment...and saw her optics flicker, silver to red. "_Go_," came another whisper, strained but infinitesimally different from Zephyr's voice. And then the hummingbird shuddered convulsively and reached for her gun. 

Tires squealing, he tore down the corridor as laser blasts impacted around him, a shrill "Maximal scum!" echoing through the dark base. Out through one of the numerous breaches in the outer hull Rattrap darted, mind spinning faster than his wheels.   
Go to Part Three --> 

* * *

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